Printing systems such as ink jet printers and electrophotographic printers can employ position encoders to track the position of moving components such as print drums and printheads. Position encoders commonly include an optical grating and an optical encoder sensor that move relative to each other pursuant to movement of the component whose position is being tracked. It can be useful to determine a reference or home position for the component whose position is being tracked, and it can be difficult to determine such reference or home position.